Politics & Government

Copley High School Student Walkout Averted

Students protesting Senate Bill 5 planned to leave school in protest.

Internet chatter reporting that teachers "guarded the doors" early Wednesday turned out not to be administrators responding to any kind of dangerous incident.

Teachers and administrators were posted at the exits of the high school on Tuesday morning, but they were there to turn back students who had planned a walkout in support of their teachers, according to authorities.

Superintendent Brian Poe said the walkout was planned in protest of Senate Bill 5. The bill would substantially change a 23-year-old collective bargaining law, which gave public employees -- including teachers -- the right to strike and to bargain for wages, working hours and benefits.

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"(Copley High School Principal) Cameron Ryba is working with the students and student leaders," Poe said. "Kids could have walked out if they chose to. ... We felt that would be unproductive. He (Ryba) discussed alternatives with them, rather than face the consequence of walking out of class."

Ryba said learned that students had opened a facebook page over the weekend to ask students to participate in the walkout and sent text messages to classmates by phone.  On Monday, he and other teachers and administrators talked to students and ask them to find a way to protest that would not break school rules.

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"Their hearts were in the right place," Ryba said, "they are worried about their teachers.  Everybody followed the rules as we hoped they would. But even though we were pretty confident we did have teachers throughout the building and at the exits.  When the time of the walkout came, no one even approached the door."

A core group of about five students organized the walkout, Ryba said. Those students will be involved in planning an alternate protest that doesn't violate school rules.

No one was disciplined, the principal said.


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